The present invention relates to a machine for extracting juice from citrus fruit.
Various kinds of machines for extracting juice from citrus fruit are already known.
The known machines, in particular those automatically feeding the fruit, squeezing the same, collecting the extracted juice and discharging the residue, are generally complicated and of considerable overall size. Moreover, the cleaning of the various parts of the machines in contact with the fruit, with the liquid obtained by squeezing the fruit and with the residual products, is difficult and in some cases, the cleaning is possible only by carrying out a laborious disassembly of the various parts.
In general, the machine disclosed in Italian Patent Application n. 45784 A/89, filed on Oct. 19, 1989 by the present inventor, obviates fairly well the above-said drawbacks.
However, such a machine is also subject to the following restrictions and drawbacks.
In the first place, the loading device holds only a small quantity of fruit.
Further, the squeezing unit comprises two vertically extending plates mutually convergent at their lower parts. A first of these vertical plates is slidable longitudinally in a horizontal direction so as to be alternately movable toward and away from the second plate by a crank-connecting rod mechanism driven by an electric motor and speed reducer. The second plate is pivoted at its upper part and is urged by a spring in such a manner that its lower part is biased toward said first plate. This squeezing unit has a drawback in that the spring is a simple leaf spring which tends to lose its resiliency after a long working time.
Moreover, the first plate is guided by special guides that are expensive and that furthermore must be precisely assembled thereby giving rise to further manufacturing costs. Moreover, as verified, the guides form surfaces on which residual products that are difficult to clean accumulate.
Also the system for collecting both the liquid obtained by squeezing the fruit and the working residual products comprises separate elements that are disposed in such a way as to form zones that are difficult to access, especially a drawer for collecting the residual products. Consequently the cleaning of such parts is not easy and remains incomplete if it is not accurately carried out.